


Eau de Stiles

by thatfamoushappyending (betsytheoven)



Series: Sterek Stories [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Scenting, Scents & Smells, oxytocin, sterek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-03
Updated: 2013-07-03
Packaged: 2017-12-17 13:20:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/868005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betsytheoven/pseuds/thatfamoushappyending
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek doesn't like when Stiles take medicine, because it messes with his scent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eau de Stiles

Derek spent a lot of time smelling Stiles. 

Wait, that sounds creepy and he’s trying really hard not to creep Stiles out. They were on better terms since Derek saved his father’s life from Deucalion, but Stiles would constantly interrupt conversations (that were very important, Stiles, focus) pointing out his “creeper-isms."

So Derek  _did not_  spend a lot of time smelling Stiles. Rather, whenever he inhaled Stiles’ scent, he paid attention. It was never a pure smell, always tarnished by an underlying scent. Actually, both Stilinski men had slightly muddled scents. The Sheriff’s was simple though. Alcohol and stress always blew over the main scent of the older man. But Stiles, Stiles had an ever-changing smell that hid his true smell from Derek. Honestly, this shouldn’t irritate Derek. 

It does. 

The first time Derek remembers consciously deciphering the scent, he smells Adderall. He had been up all night researching ways to take down the Alpha Pack without killing anyone—Scott’s idea. He was briefing the pack on what he found and Derek had noticed the clinical scent. It was bitter through his nose, and blocked just enough of Stiles’ scent to make Derek’s eyebrow twitch. Isaac gave Derek a questioning look, but didn’t say anything until later. Derek pushed it away, remembering humans needed medicine to survive sometimes. He tried not to dwell on the fact that Stiles wouldn’t have to take the Adderall if not for the werewolves, and ultimately, if not for Derek.

 

The next time he notices a different odor clouding Stiles’ fragrance, it was the day after the fight that took down Deucalion. Acetaminophen seemed soaked into his scent, making Derek want to touch him to remove the pain, absorb it into his own veins instead. But Stiles would refuse, he already had. He took the pain as a punishment for not protecting his dad better, for making Derek do the work that should have been his own. 

Derek did call an impromptu movie night though, knowing everyone needed to decompress. If he ordered in Stiles’ favorite food and gave him the comfiest spot on the couch, well no one needed to know that. Isaac gave him an encouraging smile late in the evening when Stiles had slumped onto Derek’s shoulder, exhaustion finally catching up with him, so maybe one person knew. But Derek didn’t let that stop him from enjoying the relief that flooded Stiles’ sleeping face as Derek’s veins turned black, sucking away the pain.

 

Benzodiazepine was actually one medication Derek couldn’t figure out at first. It wafted through Stiles’ scent in the late summer before his senior year, as Stiles became more distant from the pack, promising he just had to keep an eye on his dad for a little bit. Derek ended up asking Melissa (if you call me Mrs. McCall one more time, I will have Deaton trap you in mountain ash until you stop. I am not old, and you are not a child, so. Melissa.) about the scent. Turns out, the acidic smell that almost made him lethargic just to smell, was Xanax. Stiles was taking medication for his panic attacks again, which caused Melissa’s forehead to wrinkle. She gave Derek a tired look and told him that the anniversary of Stiles’ mother’s death was coming up that week. Derek didn’t let her finish before he was tearing out of the hospital. He found himself at Beacon Hills’ only cemetery, tracking the poisoned scent through the grassy expanse. It took him a while longer to reach the boy because he took a roundabout way to get there, so as to avoid the area where his family was buried. Stiles looked up at Derek and then he was wrapped around him. Both grieved as only those with lost family members could. Derek drove Stiles home, texting Boyd to pick up Stiles’ Jeep. The Sheriff greeted the man by pulling out another glass for whiskey, while Stiles went upstairs to take another dose of Xanax. Derek stayed the week. 

No one in the pack said anything about it, but they dropped by occasionally to drop off food, and clothes for Derek. The week passed and the Stilinski men were much cheerier the next few days, only grieving a small amount over the toast to Her over dinner one night. The Sheriff pulled Derek aside one morning as Stiles was getting ready for a hike with the pack. Neither Derek nor the Sheriff were comfortable with hugs, but the Sheriff insisted, saying he owed Derek nothing short of his life; If not for saving his own life, but for pulling his son out of his despair. 

Derek now has an open invitation to the Stilinski house, all murder suspicions aside. 

 

After Stiles’ graduation, he insisted on taking a picture with Derek in his suit. Hell, Derek would have sworn Stiles was more excited to see Derek in a suit than he was to graduate high school (in one piece). When Derek wrapped an arm around the boy, he inhaled out of habit. The boy hadn’t smelled strongly of anything clinical in a while, only passing traces, or confusing scents that passed out of his normal scent rather quickly, almost as if suppressed. So when he smelled a strong scent of a drug, he looked down at Stiles, right as the flash went off. 

Stiles looked up from the camera with an exuberant face, that faded ever so slightly into confusion. “What?"

Derek’s eyebrows knitted closer together, “What medicine are you on?"

Stiles’ incredulous look forced him to clarify. “You smell like drugs. I don’t like it." 

There it was, an even stronger surge of that sickly sweet smell. He hadn’t ever smelled this drug, at least not this strongly. It seemed familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. Stiles’ face froze for a second and then dropped into relief. 

"Oxytocin."

Derek’s frustration rose at Stiles’ proud look before he elaborated. 

"It’s actually a hormone…" Stiles tried, hoping the wolf would catch on. He didn’t. 

"It’s the love hormone," Stiles muttered, “which is released when someone has feelings for someone else." 

Derek tightened his arm around Stiles and pulled him into a cautious kiss, unfortunately aware of Lydia’s camera flashing out of the corner of his eyes. 

In that moment, Derek decided that he didn’t mind Stiles’ scent being flavored by another scent, so long as it was oxytocin. 

**Author's Note:**

> All of my thanks to you for reading! This was a response to a prompt on tumblr, just another short little drabble piece.
> 
> Feel free to drop on by [my tumblr](http://thatfamoushappyending.tumblr.com/) anytime, my ask box is always open! (Extra brownie points if you leave prompts)


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